Best insecticide
 

Best for camping while touring in summer

If you're not opposed to it, anything with Deet will deter skeeters and ticks. Just don't use it on bare skin. I spray my pant legs near the cuff and my helmet/hat and have good success while bike camping. The stuff I currently have on hand just says "10 Hour" on it. HTH

Best insecticide as in something you place on your skin to prevent bites and ticks? Nothing is better than pure DEET that I know of but you have to be so careful with that stuff as it will take the finish of most things it comes into contact with and can even damage some tent fabrics.

Edit: We began using OFF! Deep Woods Insect Repellent Wipes the last couple years and those things are so convenient and you don't have to worry about a bottle of that stuff breaking open in one your panniers. Seemed to work quite well including on the biting black flies of Wisconsin and would highly recommend. You can bet we'll be carrying some with us on the Minnesota Mesabi trail in a few weeks.

I bought a Thermacell mosquito repeller in Minneapolis last fall. I hate using DEET due to the taste and feel. The Thermacell seemed to work well for just sitting around camp.

I had a can of Off in my damp basement for a long time. It was in a box with, among other things, an old helmet a stereo cable. Th can rusted a bit, allowing some DEET so slowly leak out. It dissolved part of the inside of the helmet and turned the portion of the plastic stereo cable insulating outer layer that it came in contact with into goo.

With that said, I have a brand new bottle of Ben's Jungle Juice I'll be taking with me next month. 100% DEET. I abhor mosquitoes and have lived a full life. :D

Back in 1999, one guy in our cross country group had some Avon Skin So Soft wipes. They did an OK job. His wife was an Avon rep. She got some business from us during the trip. Both from wipes and lotion. The added perk was that the lotion had a pretty hight SPF.

Try Picaridin. Doesn't smell and works great.

Before a tour, I spray the tent with permethrin, around the base to keep out creepy crawlies (actually, ticks, which are arachnids, not insects) and DEETon the screens to discourage mosquitoes. I also spray my head net, which I use If I have to make camp without the tent. I carry DEET for topical use during the tour.

For about the last 6 to 8 years I have been using Picaridin based repellant lotion made by Sawyer. But one day in 2019 in Nova Scotia, the bugs were so thick that I had to dig out a tiny little bottle of 100 percent Deet that I bought decades ago.

I have used the spray on Permethrin on clothing for the last few years, but the bugs since then were not bad enough for me to say if it worked very well or not. I used the Sawyer brand spray on Permethrin.

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You're not supposed to drink it you silly goose.
I know, you put the stuff on your arm and within the next second, you're tasting it in your mouth. Anything that can blow through the blood skin barrier always makes me reluctant to use the stuff.

Just food for thought. People react differently to Deet as it relates to its ability to repel. So it is not a one size fits all. Typically, however repellent is needed for a short amount of time if for example you are fighting off mosquitoes.

With that in mind, 15% and 100% Deet will have similar performance for most people for 2 to 4 hours. Everyone has a different effectiveness time frame. The 100% Deet will keep going. But if you apply at 7pm and crawl in your tent at 10, it is highly likely the 15% product will perform as well as the 100%. If it wears off, apply again and it will be effective with still less exposure to Deet.

But it is critical with any strength, the application is complete especially on exposed skin. If your skin is not in contact with Deet it will not perform. This is not a perfume. So rubbing on for coverage is the best approach. Washing hands after is a good idea too not just for health but for the points made below.

A couple of personal thoughts. As pointed out in some of the earlier posts, Deet will affect plastics, paint and some fabrics. Do not let it come in contact with your bike, tent painted things etc, regardless of the % of Deet. And for cost savings and limiting chemical exposure you are better off using a lower deet product, executing a good coverage method such as wiping it on your skin. If you find yourself being a 'short runner' meaning it seemed to lose its effectiveness in under 2 hours, apply it again.

To lower your exposure to DEET, put it on your clothing, not one your skin.

I don't use DEET anymore. My wife had a health scare with it. Now I cover up with long sleeves and trousers, and occasionally use Permethrin. And use a head net--it's worth its weight in gold.

Campsite selection is also important. A breezy site away from bodies of water will have fewer bugs.

So…don’t tour in Minnesota. Got it. :D

I avoid using it for extended periods on a long tour. There are parts of the world e.g. Arctic regions in US/Canada (e.g. Dempster/Dalton highways), taiga (e.g. roads across Siberia) with a lot of mosquitoes. Worst I had on sustained basis was between the Ural Mountains and Lake Baikal for about six weeks they were dense every day except the few large cities. I didn't want to be wearing deet for six weeks - so instead put a dab or two on worst days and otherwise [1] got out the mosquito nets and full rain gear as soon as we stopped [2] set up the tent as quickly as possible [3] jumped in the tent and smooshed any that happened to have snuck in while setting it up [4] stayed there until morning when I reversed the procedure.
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Spray it on and rub it in. It gets on your hands and, eventually, into your mouth. I don’t think it can get through the skin…little does…but it gets transferred from your hands.

Campsite selection is important. However, lakes for example are not where mosquitoes breed. To hatch their eggs, they need a location that gets wet and dry. For example, a low point on a lawn that ultimately dries out an old car tire that collects rain, then dries out. The eggs are there between showers and the fresh rain helps them hatch. They can be in waiting for a long time.

As for location, misquotes prefer shade. So bushes provide a cooling place for them. Then as it is cooler at dusk or dawn, they wonder out to look for a host. So the sunnier the spot the better. But humans also like shade so you will need to compromise. But stay as far away from bushes and shade as the temps decrease as you can.

As for wind, they are not strong fliers. Consequently, wind is your friend.

Don't waste your money on commercial hiking permethrin. It's a total ripoff, over priced and watery useless dilution. Buy 100% concentrate pure agricultural livestock permethrin used for dipping sheep, $29 per can.

Dilute to appropriate concentration (one squirt per gallon, the one $29 can is a lifetime supply).

Spray on clothing, tent, your dog, yourself (if sufficiently hairy). Say goodbye to insects forever. Mosquitos die on contact when they land on you. Walk through the woods, look down and see a graveyard of dead mosquitos on the front of your shirt.

Fine on humans, dogs, and most livestock. Deadly toxic to cats and fish.

https://www.dkhardware.com/gordons-9...t-6538000.html

Yes, DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) can cross the skin barrier and enter the bloodstream. While it's typically a small amount, less than 10% of the applied DEET is absorbed through the skin and enters the circulatory system.

Yeah, almost any will do in the winter.

The OP is in Florida. Last time I was there was in February and I was eaten alive.

By Floridians? :innocent:

+1 worked great on the GAP/C&O last year. You just don't have it on while cooking.

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You need a bug attractant. Just make sure to take a companion that they are attracted to much more than you.

When shooting around on an outdoor basketball court with composite basketballs, DEET on your hands sure makes them sticky. You'd have to be crazy rich to use a real leather ball on an outdoor court, anyway.

Yes, stay away from the Early Bird Specials. Customers can't see to drive, what makes you think they can see to eat?

I didn't know this was another Companions Wanted thread. :) I'm that guy. When I go in the house because there are too many mosquitos on the porch, my wife comes in within 5 minutes complaining they all moved over to her after I left.

That stuff says it is 10% not 100% if I read the site correctly. Still a much better deal than the stuff I have bought that was 0.5% sold for spraying on clothing. After reading your post I decided that for me the sweet spot was probably a 32 ounce bottle of 10% (same brand as you linked). I was almost ready to order the 0.5% stuff, but ordered the 10% from Chewy.com and figure at my age the 32 ounce bottle is most likely a lifetime supply unless I use a heck of a lot more than I have in the past. That quart bottle of 10% diluted to 0.5% will spray a lot of tee shirts and stuff. I could probably jeave the bottle to someone in my will :)